


The Moon and Muggle Studies

by SabineMichaelis



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Developing Friendships, Eventual Romance, F/F, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 08:20:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9811073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SabineMichaelis/pseuds/SabineMichaelis
Summary: After Hogwarts, Hermione decides to take a break from the wizarding world and go to a muggle university. But it looks like she isn't the only Hogwarts student who had that idea. What will happen when she has a chance to see herself and her classmates in a new light?





	1. Funny Seeing You Here

            Hermione Granger peered at the black and white campus map she had printed at the library earlier, wishing she had paid for color. Even with the extra cost, it would have been worth the hassle of trying to decipher grey letters labeling the grey boxes representing the various buildings. She squinted at the tiny letters again--if only she could just cast a locator charm and be done with it.

            If that was the library, which she had just left, then this had to be the humanities building. But the history wing was clearly labeled in the building across the quad and economics ought to have been housed nearer to history than psychology. She irascibly pushed another sweaty curl out of her face and back into her bun where it belonged. After all those grey, damp days in July and August the first day of the new university term had to be sunny and blisteringly hot.

            “Is this someone’s seat?” a distinctly flustered Hermione asked the mop of sleek dirty blonde hair resting on the other half of the desk.

            The mop shifted and two lithe pale arms emerged from a chartreuse cable knit something on the chair.

            “It depends on your definition of possession, I suppose.” lilted the girl’s voice as she stretched her arms, feline, across polished wood. Her head shifted slightly, exposing the barest inclination of a face behind the feathery hair.

            “Does an object belong to its creator? Its buyer? Its user?”

            The barest inclination of a familiar face.

            “Or perhaps it belongs only to itself, and we are merely granted temporary dominion over it.”

            And the lilting of a familiar, and completely unexpected voice.

            It couldn’t be—

            Before Hermione could stop herself she had reached over and brushed the asymmetrical bangs away from where she assumed the girl’s face was.

            Luna Lovegood grinned with careless radiance.

            “How funny seeing you here, Hermione.”


	2. I Thought You'd Never Ask

            For the first time in a very long time, Hermione was unable to pay attention to the lecture. Every time she started thinking about assets and revenue, her mind would be dragged back to Luna’s presence beside her. It was in part the sheer surprise of her existence in the lecture hall of a muggle university, and in part the change in Luna since their time at Hogwarts. She had thankfully left off the radish earrings and roaring lion hat, but had replaced them with an extremely blue and fuzzy pullover, miniskirt, and neon pink fishnets with cat faces on the knees. The look was bizarrely…appealing, perhaps because muggle fashion was much more forgiving than its wizarding counterpart. Against black robes, her individual style had looked appallingly radical, but that same style lent itself to another world.

            Another odd thing was that Luna seemed quite engrossed in the lecture, taking extensive notes in neat, if glittery green, penmanship. Hermione had never had the opportunity to see Luna in class, being a year ahead. She was ashamed to admit that she had always rather thought that Luna’s inclusion in Ravenclaw house was questionable. No one who believed in crumple-horned snorkacks could be _wise_ and someone who regularly wore upside-down spectacles probably wasn’t studious per-say.

            By the end of the class period, Hermione’s notes were appallingly sparse. She had recorded the gist of the topic, but she did not have the level of detail that she was accustomed to. Again, she glanced at her neighbor’s shimmering curlicues and swallowed her pride.

            “Might I take a look at your notes, Luna?” she inquired, embarrassed.

            Luna beamed in response, “I thought you’d never ask.”


	3. It's A Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyy I know I'm the worst at updating. If it makes you feel better, I have never actually abandoned a fic (even if it takes me a while to finish). 
> 
> A huge thank-you to Mercia and Rebekah Randolph for reminding me to keep writing this!

The two young witches sipped their drinks while pressed into the corner of the packed coffee shop near the campus center. Luna did not seem to mind that their faces were less than a wands-length apart. Hermione, on the other hand, awkwardly stared at the domed lid of her cup as Luna leveled clear eyes directly at her. 

“Why are you here?” Luna asked suddenly, frank as ever.

“At a muggle university, I mean.” She clarified, as Hermione let out a quiet laugh.

“I wanted to finish my studies, I suppose. I did attend muggle schools until I was eleven.” 

Luna licked whipped cream from the edge of her cup and hummed encouragingly, so Hermione found herself continuing.

“And, well, I came home every summer to find that all my friends knew things that I didn’t. It drove me mad, so I begged my parents to homeschool me over the holidays. Eventually, after--” she lowered her voice, glancing at all the non-magical people around them, “the war, I just felt like I needed time away to...” 

She trailed off, blushing in embarrassment as she searched for the right words to explain herself. This was no secret, and she knew that she was far from the only person to retreat from the wizarding world for a while, but something about Luna’s serious expression made her feel as if she had just revealed something deep and important about herself. Those wide silvery grey eyes were all-too-perceptive, and Hermione recalled the spectrespecs from their very first train ride together. 

Then Luna nodded, and the knot of self-consciousness in Hermione’s chest loosened. 

“You probably know that most wizards don’t send their children to school until eleven.” Luna offered, 

“But since Ottery is mainly non-magical, most of the children I knew were Muggles who went to the primary school. I remember they were rather unkind, but they did say such interesting things. So I did my A-levels after the NEWTs and decided I’d come here before entering the wizarding workforce.” In spite of herself, Hermione was impressed that Luna has passed her A-levels without attending a single day of school.

“These classes are so fascinating,” Luna mused, “even if not all of them seem too practical.” 

Hermione tried to stifle a guffaw in her coffee. 

“Practical as compared to what?” she snorted, “Divination? Astronomy?”

“Divination was rather obscure,” Luna ceded, “but I hardly see myself using my new knowledge of renaissance painting styles on a regular basis. On the other hand, Muggles have a much more comprehensive take on astronomy than wizards do.”

“What do you mean?” Hermione frowned, “I was under the impression that it was much the same.”

Luna shook her head emphatically, hair fanning out like billowing robes. 

“The star-mapping is the same, but instead of just memorizing the patterns for potion-making, Muggles actually want to know  _ why _ the universe works the way it does. We learn about maths and history and actually see detailed photographs of things that were just smudges through the telescopes.” As she spoke, her eyes brightened from dull silver to starlight. She was still looking at Hermione, but the passion that enlivened her was directed far away. Hermione was extremely curious to see what could excite such a generally nonchalant person. 

Then a passing student jostled them as he approached the counter and in the moment of keeping a hold of their now-empty cups, Luna returned to reality--so to speak.

“I have the two p.m. lecture with Horowitz and the laboratory on Wednesday nights at ten. It’s not too late to join.”

They quickly binned the paper cups and moved towards the exit as Hermione went over her schedule in her mind’s eye. She pursed her lips.

“I’m already taking more than the recommended course load this semester, so it’s unlikely that I’ll have a chance to take the class until next spring.”

Luna did not appear to be overly disappointed. In fact, her eyes lit up in excitement again while she held open the glass door.

“Oohh. I’m jealous already, spring has all the nicest stars. Why don’t you come to the observatory on Friday? I can give you a taste of the course.”

In the face of such enthusiasm, what could Hermione do but accept?

“I’d like that.” she replied, earning a brilliant smile.

“Then, it’s a date.” 

As the clock struck, Luna swanned off before Hermione could ask what time they should meet.


End file.
